Monday, February 01, 2016

W more popular than Obama

One best-case scenario for Jeb Bush's candidacy looks like this: George W. Bush's legacy softens substantially from the record-low ratings he "enjoyed" once he left office. Voters decide that Jeb's relationship with his brother is not a big deal and maybe even a positive.

And lo, new polling from CNN/ORC and Bloomberg/Des Moines Register gives us two indicators that this scenario is coming true.

George W. Bush is now viewed more favorably than Hillary Clinton, and his favorability trumps President Obama's approval.

We've noted before that sluggish approval ratings for Obama were bad news for Clinton. There's a correlation between the president's approval rating and how well the person from his party hoping to be his replacement does in November.

This is normal. Presidencies begin popular and usually end unpopular. Once out of office, the public appreciates anew the past president.

Compared to President Obama, George Walker Bush was the better of the two. Bush was humble, Obama's vain. Bush ditched ideology (no nation building) when the facts changed (9/11) and he adapted (building Afghanistan and Iraq into democracies).

When he left, we had Iran hemmed in by controlling two neighbors: Afghanistan and Iraq.

Obama ceded Iraq to Iran, and is frittering American lives away in Afghanistan.

The world is less safe, America less powerful, and evil emboldened under Obama. Maybe the majority of Americans will never agree with my assessment, but they are being less harsh on a man who put his country first.

Bush had his failings -- no down payment mortgages, No Child Left Behind, and that 2008 stimulus to nowhere were just three mistakes. But I mess him every day. He wasn't Reagan, but damn he was a good man and president. Nice to see his numbers rise.

And to think the Rs are abandoning W's smarter, more compassionate brother for a certified clown who has yet to give one detail about "how" he is going to implement his "what." But don't worry, Jerry Falwell Jr. has endorsed said clown even though he has been married three times; is pro-choice; and admits he does not seek forgiveness from God. Tell me again why Trump is so appealing to conservatives?If anyone cares - and I know you don't - I'm leaving my ballot blank come November unless Chris Christie pulls a miracle stunner and is on it.

"Bush had his failings -- no down payment mortgages, No Child Left Behind, and that 2008 stimulus to nowhere were just three mistakes."

C'mon, Don. You can sadle GWB w No Child Left Behind, and maybe some shared blame for the stimulus. But you know as well as I do he tried to rein in Fannie and Freddie as early as 2005 and got slapped down by Barney Frank and the other liberals demagogues in Congress at the time. A POTUS has no unilateral power on mortgage rules, he only has the bully pulpit.

Bush was hated by the left because he became successful as a result of his own bold action in a war they opposed when they saw it going badly and so sought craven political advantage.Obama abandoned Iraq because to stay there would have made him the embarrassed and unrewarded custodian of political opponents victory in a stuggle he had opposed and had predicted along with his allies in the press could never be won. The NYT had even approved genocide as a means of immediate escape from its toils. Humiliated by his success they were eager to blame him for a financial crises he had actually sought to avoid by changing lending protocols to the "poor" but they had vigorously opposed as "unfair" Tacitus wrote that the one thing "princes" wished for but could not control was a positive judgement from future generations. I have no doubt GW will get his but Obama will not. Since I am unlikely to live long enough to see this prediction come true I am not afraid of being judged by the future. But if I had 20 years left I would put money on it.It is true that the socialists write most of our history today but the good ones do not want to be erased into some future photonic limbo for distortions of a record their future less biased colleagues will know to be unfounded. In the future GW will do well. He pitched a perfect strike from the mound in front of the entire world;that alone will put Obama into his overarching shade forever

FAKE NEWS FOLLIES OF 2017

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I live in Poca, West Virginia, with my lovely wife of 40 years, Lou Ann. I am an Army veteran and Cleveland State graduate. I retired after 40 years as a newspaperman. In 2016, I published "Trump the Press," which drew rave reviews at Power Line and Instapundit.